A video of a burning Paul George jersey was posted on Twitter Sunday night, a few hours after the Indiana Pacers’ superstar informed the team he intended to leave as a free agent after next season.

As the news trickled throughout Indianapolis, fans expressed a range of emotions on social media — depression, confusion, anger — and at least one guy set his jersey on fire.

When one of a city's most celebrated athletes lets it be known he's leaving for another opportunity — other recent examples are LeBron James and Kevin Durant — parts of their fan bases overreact in demonstrative ways.

Dustin Fox, co-host for the "Bull & Fox Show" on WKRK-FM in Cleveland, remembers what his city went through in 2010 after James announced he’d be signing with the Miami Heat via "The Decision," a television special carried live by ESPN.

What Pacers fans are going through isn’t quite the same caliber of shock — the Cavs had played for a championship in 2007 and made the conference finals in ’09, while the Pacers haven’t captured a conference title since 2000. But Fox understands better than most how cities and fans cope when an athlete bolts for a new organization.

“It was like all we had in Cleveland at the time,” Fox said. “It was like somebody ripped your heart out. I was a kid when the Browns left in 1995, so I don’t remember being quite as passionate about that. But it was kind of the same thing to some degree. When you have something you love so much taken from you and you can’t do anything about it. ...

“It’s stupid because it’s sports and it shouldn’t matter that much, but it does. For him to leave, you felt abandoned. It was personal.”

Part of that is because James is from Akron, Ohio. George is from Palmdale, Calif., and had in the past expressed interest in playing for his hometown Lakers. But Indianapolis fans still have that feeling of abandonment.

Derrick Cooper, 29, lives in Fort Wayne and has been a Pacers fan all his life. He says he’d never burn a jersey and doesn’t have friends who would either. He was pragmatic when speaking about George’s decision, even though he’s not happy about it.

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“It definitely sucks because you feel invested in them as players, especially with Paul after his leg injury and coming back,” he said, referencing when George broke his leg during a Team USA scrimmage in 2014. “I was there the game he came back and I’ll always remember that. But at the end of the day, it’s a business for them.”

Cooper can’t say the same for his 12-year-old brother, Elijah McCormick. Elijah's taking it hard. He is always Paul George when he plays NBA2k and last week, he gave Cooper’s 1-year-old son some advice while playing.

“He was telling him, ‘Paul George is going to be your idol,’” Cooper said. “Now, he doesn’t quite understand why Paul is leaving and wants to leave. But that’s a 12-year-old, not an adult burning a jersey.”

Dan McQuiston, an associate professor of marketing and management at Butler University, said burning merchandise has become popular, even if it is a vocal minority taking part.

“It’s, ‘I’ve gotta do something, so this is what I’m gonna do,’” McQuiston said. “Fans really develop an intense loyalty to the sport and in many cases, they expect the players to have that same loyalty. Players are much different. Particularly when you have someone with superstar status, like a Paul George, they don’t have to worry about money as much. He wants to be on a championship team. That’s what drives their decision.”

Fox remembers downtown Cleveland looking like a “ghost town” after James left. For years, he said, James brought business to the area and fans always thought they had a chance to win a championship.

Cooper doesn’t see that happening to Indianapolis, mainly because he’s always viewed George as a guy with “one foot in and one foot out the whole time” compared to other star athletes in Indianapolis such as Reggie Miller, Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.

“He was good for the city,” Cooper said. “He just never was the superstar we all wanted him to be because he just didn’t really want to be the face of a smaller city. He wanted to be the face of a bigger franchise, which makes sense. He’s an L.A. guy.

2016: Demarcus Cousins, Kevin Durant and George laugh on the bench during a game China in the men's basketball group A preliminary round during the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Jason Getz, USA TODAY Sports